Foul play as football clubs hit by break-ins

Club bosses have been urged to be on the lookout after raids on Fennyfold playing fields and Pendle Forest Sports Club at Fence.

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An alert has been issued by Pendle Forest after expensive items of maintenance equipment, totalling thousands of pounds were lost.

The haul, taken between 6pmon Saturday and 10am on Sunday, included a Lloyd Paladin cylinder mower, an Eliet scarifier, a Draper rotary mower, three strimmers and various other pieces of kit.

A club spokesman said: “This has completely set the newly reformed cricket section back and we are desperate to recover these items and find the culprits who did this. We are a community sports facility and thefts like this are difficult to recover from.”

Club officials are wondering whether the theft is linked to a similar recent raid on a storage compound at the Bullholme pavilion in Barrowford.

Supporters believe that a large van or truck would have been required to spirit away some of the heavy duty cutting gear and are appealing to communities in East Lancashire to be on the lookout if any of the items are offered for sale locally.

In the Padiham attack, the changing rooms were ‘trashed’, with cones placed down toilets and equipment left strewn about the place.

Coach Nick Wilkinson has been running his Soccer Pro school at the St John’s Road venue during the holidays to give youngsters a sporting summer break.

He said: “Every afternoon when I lock up I always put bibs, cones, footballs and nets in the changing rooms.

“Then I came to it one morning and it had been broken into. They had trashed the place, cones were placed down the toilet and everything.”

Several items of training equipment are also understood to have been taken and residents are being asked to be on the lookout to see if the haul has been dumped nearby, or is again offered for resale in the Burnley or Pendle areas.

It is understood both incidents have been reported to the police.